Related papers: The inverse Compton catastrophe and high brightnes…
We show that an upper limit of ~ 10^{12} K on the peak brightness temperature for an incoherent synchrotron radio source, commonly referred to in the literature as an inverse Compton limit, may not really be due to inverse Compton effects.…
Some rapidly variable extra-galactic radio sources show very high brightness temperatures T_B>10^{12}K and high degrees of circular polarisation (1%). Standard synchrotron models that assume a power-law electron distribution cannot produce…
We discuss here a limit on the maximum brightness temperature achievable for an incoherent synchrotron radio source. This limit, commonly referred to in the literature as an inverse Compton limit, prescribes that the brightness temperature…
I re-examine the brightness temperature problem in PKS 0405-385 which is an extreme intra-day variable radio quasar with an inferred brightness temperature of $\sim 5 \times 10^{14}$ K at 5 GHz, well above the Compton catastrophe limit of…
Some intra-day variable, compact extra-galactic radio sources show brightness temperatures severely exceeding 10^{12} K, the limit set by catastrophic inverse-Compton (IC) cooling in sources of incoherent synchrotron radiation. The…
The inverse Compton catastrophe is defined as a dramatic rise in the luminosity of inverse Compton scattered photons. It is described by a non-linear loop of radiative processes that sets in for high values of the electron compactness and…
We review the observations of rapid flux density variations in compact radio sources, and discuss the inverse Compton limit to the maximum brightness temperature of incoherent synchrotron sources in comparison with recent VLBA observations.…
Rapid inverse Compton cooling sets in when the brightness temperature (T_B) of a self-absorbed synchrotron source with power-law electrons reaches ~10^{12} K. However, T_B inferred from observations of intra-day variable sources (IDV) are…
The limit on the intrinsic brightness temperature, attributed to `Compton catastrophe', has been established being $10^{12}$~K. Somewhat lower limit of the order of $10^{11.5}$~K is implied if we assume that the radiating plasma is in…
Measured values of the brightness temperature of low-frequency synchrotron radiation emitted by powerful extragalactic sources reach 10^11--10^12 K. If some amount of nonrelativistic ionized gas is present within such sources, it should be…
We show that an upper limit on the maximum brightness temperature for a self-absorbed incoherent synchrotron radio source is obtained from the size of its gyro orbits, which in turn must lie well within the confines of the total source…
We have observed profound variability in the radio flux density of the quasar PKS 0405-385 on timescales of less than an hour; this is unprecedented amongst extragalactic sources. If intrinsic to the source, these variations would imply a…
Synchrotron radiation mechanism, when electrons are accelerated in a relativistic shock, is known to have serious problems to explain the observed gamma-ray spectrum below the peak for most Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs); the synchrotron spectrum…
Electrons at relativistic speeds, diffusing in magnetic fields, cause copious emission at radio frequencies in both clusters of galaxies and radio galaxies, through the non-thermal radiation emission called synchrotron. However, the total…
The observed variability of BL Lac objects and Quasars on timescales <1 day (intraday variability, IDV) have revealed radio brightness temperatures up to 10^{16}-10^{20} K. These values challenge the beaming model with isotropic comoving…
Relativistic electrons, seen in the large diffuse radio halo of the Coma cluster of galaxies, should scatter background photons to higher energies. We calculate the inverse Compton contributions from the microwave background, from the local…
The problem of the anisotropic Inverse Compton scattering between a monochromatic photon beam and relativistic electrons is revisited and formally solved without approximations. Solutions are given for the single scattering with an electron…
Outflow angles and bulk Lorentz factors for 43 sources that have proper motions compiled by Vermeulen & Cohen (1994) are computed on the basis of Doppler factors and observed apparent motions in the plane of the sky. These estimates of…
Inverse Compton cooling limits the brightness temperature of the radiating plasma to a maximum of $10^{11.5}$ K. Relativistic boosting can increase its observed value, but apparent brightness temperatures much in excess of $10^{13}$ K are…
Most of the Universe's populations of low energy cosmic ray electrons in the energy range of 1-100 MeV still manage to elude from detection by our instruments, since their synchrotron emission is at too low frequencies. We investigate a…